Those Bloody Imaginary Crickets
by Theophaneia
Summary: There lay a picture of Evans and me in second year, her with an odd expression on her face and me beaming in front of the castle doors. And second-year-Sirius running across the picture behind second-year-us with a look of comical terror on his face.
1. Those Bloody Imaginary Crickets

Damn hair. Damn you hair. What is wrong with you? Couldn't you at least be cooperative here? All I'm asking is for you to be calmer. I mean, what is with your craziness and… awesomely windswept excellence—I mean, frustrating unkempt quality?

Okay, so really I don't see anything wrong with you, hair. But something _has_ to be wrong. Lily sees it. I just have to put myself in her position. What would she find wrong about you?

Err. Yeah, I can't find anything. I can't see anything wrong. What the hell?

Honestly, I think I can hear crickets in my head. What? Is my head that empty? Scoff. I didn't think so.

But those stupid crickets; they're so annoying. Shut up, little crickets, shut up! Oh Merlin. I'm telling the crickets in my head to shut up while trying to see myself through Lily's eyes. I have only two comments to myself. One, I am doing a horrible job of thinking like Lily, and two, I need to stop talking to imaginary crickets.

Seriously now, back to the serious situation at hand. Oh, wow. I wonder how many times I can use the word "serious" in a sentence. And I could throw Sirius' name a few times into the sentence. Ah, must remember to talk to Sirius about serious things in order to accomplish my serious mission of seriously using "serious" as many times as seriously possible.

Smirk. Hah, mission accomplished.

Oh, right, _the situation_. Okay, well obviously nothing's wrong with my hair. Lily just needs glasses. Yes, I'll recommend glasses to her next time I talk to her. Or yell with her. You never know what will come out of talking to Lily Evans.

If it isn't my hair, then what is so unattractive about me to Lily? It can't be my Quidditch playing. It makes me look very manly. It can't be my excellent Transfiguration scores. I'm a genius. Who _doesn't_ love me for that?

Oh, wait! Hold on there! What is this? No. No, it couldn't possibly be…

A pimple?! Aw, crap. Maybe Lily hates me because of this pimple. It would explain a lot. I mean, wow. A pimple. How in all of eternity can I show my face in the common room, let alone the rest of Hogwarts, without humiliating the Potter name for eternity? I'm sorry Dad.

I need some strong advice. Advice that I can rely on. Advice that can never go wrong. Advice that I know with my heart will be one hundred percent insightful.

I need to talk to Sirius.

Now, where to find him? Where. To. Find. Sirius. Black. Hmm, no. He's not inside the restroom. Not inside the common room. What a crap load. How hard can it be to find a Sirius Black? I have to sit down and think. Here's Sirius' bed. He won't mind if I rest here for a few minutes. My bed is too far away. A few extra feet of walking may be hard on my precious joints.

"ARGHH! WHAT THE HELL? WHO TH—… Padfoot?"

Well, who would have known he'd be in his own bed? Way to be predictable, Padfoot.

He groans. "Prongs, why the bloody hell are you sitting on my stomach?" He rubs his eyes to see clearer.

"Erm." What? That's all James Potter can say? In my defense, this fool who 'sleeps in his own bed' just seriously scared me. I mean, really. Who does that nowadays? "I was looking for you," I add, pretty stupidly. Even I can admit to that.

He raises his eyebrow. What? What did I do now?

"You were looking for me?"

"Yes. Yes, I was," I reply.

"_You_ were _looking_ for me?"

"Uh huh," I respond with an annoyed expression, staring pointedly at him. "I think we've established that, Padfoot." I'm starting to get a _tad_ bit angry. Why does he keep repeating himself? How annoying. Just like those stupid little crickets. Is my head a cricket home or something?

"Err, Prongs? May I remind you, we did create the Marauder's Map for purposes such as these?"

"…Oh." My eyes must seem pretty large right now. How in all of eternity did I forget to use the Map?

"Right, well. Prongs? What was it you were looking for me about? Is somefing wo-ong?" Sirius asks, in the most provoking baby voice ever.

"Oh, yeah!" I say, maturely sophisticatedly ignoring his mockery. "Sirius, this is completely serious. And I'm being totally serious here. I'm not talking like this for some odd mission that I might have to say "serious" as many times in a sentence. I'm really being serious." That must've sounded smart, James.

"Prongs, just get to the point. I'd really like to go back to the sleep I was so unexpectedly awaken from by your arse, which by the way, could you get off me?"

"Wahh—OH! Right. Sorry, mate. It's just I have really big news. Really, very big news. Look close, buddy. See right there? Where I'm pointing? Yeah! I know. Horrible."

"Yeah… what is this? A blemish?" He's laughing. Why is he laughing? I don't see anything funny around. I glance around the room just in case. "Prongs, you're acting like a girl, here!"

"WHAT?! No I'm no—." He slapped me. He slapped me hard. Sirius slapped me hard. What kind of a monster would do this? I totally did not deserve that. I think I'm going to cry…

Oh… Okay, I can see what he's talking about.

"Yeah, okay mate. I needed that. Sorry, again."

"No problem. Now is that all you woke me up for? Because really, I did not get a whole lot of sleep last night. Maybe you remember? It _was_ your dream and insistent sleep talking that kept me up all night!"

"Sorry, mate."

"Yeah, sure."

Crickets. Damn crickets.

Long pause. "I need to get a grip of myself, Padfoot! I can't keep thinking about Lily and what she thinks is wrong with me! That's not the way to live. I need to move on. Lily's not the only girl at Hogwarts. Heck, I've got _all_ of Hogwarts to help me move on. Am I right Sirius? Am I?" I must admit I said that pretty desperately.

"Right, Prongs. You do that. You move on. Yep, sure." Sirius fell asleep. Great friend.

I sigh. Yeah, I'll listen to my excellent advice. No more Lily! No more fantasizing about her, no more thinking about her, no more talking to her, no more asking her out. Yeah. I'm finally over her.

Merlin, that was easy.

Wait, what's this under my bed? Oh, mother of heaven. It's a picture of Lily and me in second year. Those were the days—when Lily didn't absolutely hate my guts. Look at her. She's beautiful even at the age of twelve. How does she do that? I mean, that luminescent glow of hers. Her hair. It's so long and flowy—my new word. Long, flowy, and shiny. And look at those huge pools of emerald where her eyes should be. Wait, no. Those are her eyes. Wow. It's hypnotizing.

Crap. This may be harder than I thought.


	2. Fond Memories and Not So Fond Nightmares

_There lay a picture of Evans and me in second year, her with an odd expression on her face and me beaming in front of the castle doors. And second-year-Sirius running across the picture behind second-year-us with a look of comical terror on his face._

James sat atop his maroon four-poster bed, silent and staring at the picture frame he gently held with both hands. The complete innocence of the moving picture mesmerized him. His countenance captured perfectly the awe and hopeful ideas that someday his life would be just like this photograph again. Somewhere inside him, James felt a strong ache for whatever it was that was painted within the photo. Perhaps it was the happiness. Perhaps it was the friendship. Perhaps it was the harmony.

Minutes slowly ticked by as James continued to gaze at second-year him and second-year Lily framed in one flawless moment, possibly the only anger-free moment that was ever kept, or in James' case, cherished, between him and the red-haired girl.

His eyes flicked towards the top-right corner of the picture, quickly spotting a shadow darting across the edge of the frame. He barely had time to process whom the figure was before it dashed out of the scene: _second-year Sirius_, James realized. He found it incredible that he had only just noticed his fellow Marauder running through the picture. Yet, he also acknowledged the fact that he had been too enamored with a certain red-haired spectacle to observe the setting of the photo.

Again, second-year Sirius raced through the corner of the picture, revealing his extremely hysterical expression to James' eyes. Identifying in his memory Sirius' reason for harboring such a comical appearance, James closed his eyes and found himself three years in the past.

"_James! Stop running so fast. I can't keep up with you!"_

"_Sorry, Lily," laughed second-year James, smiling sheepishly. "Come on, catch up!"_

_Second-year Lily rolled her eyes, but she couldn't deny the tiny smile that came with it, nor the sparkle in her eyes when James turned to check up on how far away she was to him. It was the ideal Saturday afternoon of May, the time when all the older students were holed up in the library or their dormitories, busy cramming for finals._

_For the second-years, the month of May meant relaxation, and often times translated to spending every second of every spare minute they had outdoors, despite the fact that they, too, had their own finals to worry about._

_From a spectator's perspective, it seemed as if Lily was pathetically chasing after James, who, one could see, was obviously much faster than her. However, it was only poor Lily, trying dearly to keep up with her fellow Gryffindor as they both raced through the corridors, seeking more fun in the sun._

_Both Lily and James were indifferent to the crowd of people that they forced themselves past. They hadn't been outdoors in nearly twelve hours! And already they were suffering from sun-withdrawals, symptoms of which included paleness and obsessing with their return to fresh air._

"_James, will—you—please _wait_?" Lily huffed. She abruptly halted her chase in order to catch her breath. She sluggishly rested her palms on her knees, faintly bending forward. At the sound of her voice, James twisted around, armed with a grin the size of an apple._

"_What's that, Lily? Still can't keep up?" he teased. He began ambling back to Lily, but not without his signature wink and ruffle of the hair. _

_As Lily regained her breath, her hands moved every so slightly towards her stomach, emphasizing the fact that she had missed lunch to search for her misplaced wand. James had conveniently appeared with her wand and returned it to her after she had been hunting for a near forty minutes. She had _just_ made it to Transfiguration as the bell rang, sitting herself sheepishly at her desk under Professor Mcgonagall's stern gaze._

_Still a tad out of breath, Lily's nose crinkled adorably. "I almost forgot! I need to catch something to eat real quickly, since I didn't get to eat lunch. I wasn't that hungry until just now!" she exclaimed._

"_Oh, that's right. Your missing wand," James breathed, allowing an uncomfortable grimace to sit on his face. But, of course, he had nothing to be guilty about. "I forgot, too. We can visit the Great Hall for a second, if you want," he swiftly added, a bit disappointed at this obstacle._

_Lily brought her eyes up to meet James', emphatically raising her right eyebrow. "James, I know you want to go outside, like, right now. So, go on! I'll catch up." She smiled, reaching up to tousle his hair. "I won't take long, promise!"_

_And with that, she sped down the hall in the opposite direction, determined to meet James outside as soon as possible._

_James, stunned at how quick that girl sometimes was, remained rooted in the same position for five long seconds. Smiling appreciatively, he turned and continued his journey to the great outdoors, this time walking._

_He definitely took Lily for granted at times, he realized. She was fun to tease, no doubt, but moments like those made James unexpectedly stop and notice how good of a friend Lily really was. They weren't the best of the friends. No, not yet. But, she sure knew what James wanted._

_James finally reached the main entrance, these thoughts swimming through his head. He stretched out his left arm and pushed the oak door wide open. Bright sunlight burst into the hallway and blinded him for a few seconds before his eyes adjusted…_

_He was finally outside! His stomach soared, his grin widened, his eyes formed huge saucers—until he heard a high-pitched scream come from his right. James turned, facing the wide expanse of the lake and trees surrounding it._

_James could honestly say he did not expect what came into his view: Sirius Black stood before him, hand clapped to his mouth and eyes round with surprise. Out of all the people James figured would be screaming with such high a note, he did not once consider Sirius to be one of them._

_A small squeal escaped Sirius' clamped mouth. To James, it seemed as if his best mate had finally, and officially, lost his marbles ("Just like Dumbledore!" Sirius would at one point shout)._

_Confused, James started towards him, intent on discovering what the cause of this boy's uncharacteristic breakdown was. Yet, with each step he took towards Sirius, Sirius in turn stepped backwards._

"_Sirius, mate, what's got –"_

"Argh!"

James' eyes popped open, his mind ripped from the flow of memories he was enjoying. He twisted around to face the source of the roar, expecting nothing less than a disgusting, vile Slytherin to have broken into the Gryffindor tower to attack and terrorize those who called this place home.

Yet, searching for the expected Slytherin, James could only find Sirius, twisting and turning on his four-poster bed, arms flailing about, eyes wide in remembrance, jaw slacked, breaths heavy, gasps thick.

James, slightly worried yet, as the loyal friend he was, faintly amused, asked, "Nightmare?"

The alarmed boy nodded once.

"And what was it about?" James asked mockingly, treating his mate like a little child.

Sirius looked up into his eyes, weakly raised his shaking arm, and pointed to the picture James held in his hands. James couldn't help but burst out in laughter at the sight of terror on his best mate's face. He, in response, could only glare somewhat-menacingly back.

Sirius had a nightmare of the exact memory James had been happily reminiscing.

* * *

_A/N- Ta da! Another chapter! I like this one specifically because it contrasts the first so much (I considered making it it's own sequel, rather than a second chapter, but I thought against it). Hope you enjoyed. Feedback most definitely appreciated!_


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